Speed of Sound
by beyond-the-twilight
Summary: "The reason Glee can't function without Rachel is quite simply because Rachel Berry is Glee" - Companion piece to Speed of Light, although that doesn't have to be read first.


**A/N: So this is a companion piece to my one-shot Speed of Light, although you don't need to read that to understand this. There are more events in here that weren't in Speed of Light, because that was more concentrated on Rachel and Puck, whereas this one is the whole group. **

**I still don't own Glee, or Lea Michele or Mark Salling. Guess we can add the rest of the cast to the list now :(**

**Reviews are cherished. **

Puck's standing by Rachel's side when she breaks the news. The club doesn't comment on it: they're used to seeing Puck with Rachel now. It seems almost natural. Finn still narrows his eyes and glares at Puck, and Santana still feels slightly jealous that Puck is seeing someone else, even if they haven't actually confirmed their relationship.

Then Rachel opens her mouth, and the group settles down to listen. They're expecting a big lecture, and a couple of them (Mercedes and Santana) are trying to find a way to take their iPod's out of their pockets and put them on without Rachel noticing.

"Noah convinced me to go to the doctor's because of my frequent troubles with my knee, and although it took me a few appointments (Puck admits that the "few appointments" was actually eleven and Rachel elbows him in the ribs) to believe what they said, I have come to the conclusion that I will never be able to dance again"

Quinn's mouth falls open, Brittany's eyes fill with tears, Artie's grief is written all over his face, Tina and Mercedes stand up and hover awkwardly, Kurt makes it worse and Finn tries to apologize. Rachel doesn't take it well and attempts to storm out, but her knee sends her sprawling to the floor.

Puck picks her up because no one else can move. They're too shocked. Rachel Berry had dreams and determination; she wanted to be on Broadway for god's sakes, and that's obviously ended. Brittany and Finn might not be the brightest kids in the school, but even they know that you need to be able to dance to be on Broadway.

* * *

Glee adapts for Rachel. Mr Schue decides that she can't sing lead for the songs anymore. They need a lead that can sing _and _dance, which means that Rachel is out of the running.

Under any other circumstances, Kurt and Mercedes would be excited. With no Rachel taking the lead, there are more solo's up for grabs, which gives them more opportunities to shine. Neither of them can be happy over this when they see Rachel near tears on her stool.

Mr Schue does try to accommodate her. They perform ballads as often as possible, and the solo is given to Rachel. No one complains that they don't get a chance to audition, because they know it's all Rachel has left.

When she sings, they all crowd around her stool, making it seem like she's the star, even though that too has been snatched away from her. Quinn notices that Puck's hand is always on Rachel's shoulder during these moments, and Tina notices that Rachel always blinks back tears when they move back into formation for the next routine.

* * *

The Glee kids don't really know how to act around her. They were never that close to her to begin with, but there's an additional wedge between the group and Rachel now.

One lunchtime, Quinn, Brittany and Santana escape from the madness of the cafeteria, and hide in the bathrooms. There's gossip going around about Rachel and they feel bad for ever allowing people to bitch about her. Beneath all the crazy, she's actually a nice enough person.

"Her outfit choices are still criminal", Santana says harshly.

"Yeah, but we can't even tease her for it anymore. She's like... broken", Brittany says eloquently.

"I feel sorry for her", Quinn says softly. Brittany starts blabbing on about a duck, and the three friends leave the bathroom.

For Rachel, whose sitting in one of the stalls, their sympathy and pity is worse than anything else she's dealing with.

* * *

Finn and Rachel finally go on a date. Rachel convinces herself that it's fine, but Finn thinks it's awkward. He's glad that he's chosen a movie instead of dinner, because he doesn't know what to say to Rachel anymore.

All of their conversations revolved around singing and dancing, but Rachel doesn't want to talk about that stuff anymore.

He tries asking her about her MySpace videos when they first get in the car, but she tells him she's not posting those anymore. She's not hoping to be discovered anymore.

He tries asking her about the new song they're performing at the moment, but she snaps at him, saying that she doesn't want to discuss it anymore.

Their date is quiet. _Rachel _is quiet.

* * *

Rachel doesn't regularly show up to Glee practice for the next few weeks. She used to be there before everyone else, setting up the music stands and the sheets of music they'd need; she was more prepared than Mr Schue.

She'll show up late for one rehearsal, and then skip the next three.

No one says anything.

She's broken inside.

When she finally comes back to the choir room on a regular basis, Puck is by her side. They realize that those two have got their acts sorted out and are now a couple. (Mercedes exclaims "Finally!" Santana rolls her eyes, Quinn smiles at Puck – grateful he's made Rachel happy, Brittany hugs Rachel, Artie bumps fists with Puck, Kurt nods in acceptance, Tina smiles at the both of them... and Finn? Finn is the icing on the cake: he nods at Puck and smiles at Rachel – giving them his blessing).

With the new relationship comes new drama.

They all hear about Rachel dancing behind Noah's back (Rachel thinks it's a good idea for them to refer to Puck as Noah now, but they all slip up at one time or another), and they all hear about Rachel walking in on Puck kissing Santana.

Quinn fixes it, admitting that Santana was just jealous, and Puck was drunk. Quinn becomes the fairy godmother of that relationship, getting the two back together after the most epic fight the group has ever seen.

* * *

Rachel quits Glee.

* * *

Noah follows her, despite the fact that Rachel says he can stay.

* * *

The group falls apart. Rachel has been the driving force behind them for so long and they don't know what to do without her.

Finn tries to take control (after all, he is co-captain) but he doesn't really know what to do. There's a lot more to Glee than just choosing a song and making up a dance routine.

There's paperwork to be filled in and filed, and there's people to be contacted. There are new members that need to be recruited, and although a couple of them are quite good singers, none of them are as good as Puck.

And none of them are even in the same league as Rachel.

* * *

The club tries to stay together. They want to show Rachel that they can do it; that they believe in the legacy she has created. None say of them it, but they want to prove that this club is worth something so that Rachel will come back... they want to show that they're sorry for not being better friends while they had the chance.

Finn goes up to Puck and begs him to come back to Glee, saying that it's just not the same without him.

Puck smirks and says he understands. He knows the group must be missing the Puck-ster. He agrees to come back.

Neither of them point out his lie. Sure, Glee was better with Puck, but it's really Rachel they need back.

* * *

Puck practices with them for the next few weeks. He doesn't tell Rachel what he's doing; the group has decided that they're going to perform a song for her, and beg her to come back.

When he goes to Rachel's that afternoon, she's crying in her bedroom.

"Rach baby, what's wrong?"

She doesn't say anything, but after a quick inspection of her room, he finds out the problem (her laptop is open, with her videos playing one after the other, and the boxes on the floor contain all of her dancing medals).

When Noah quits Glee for the second time, he doesn't hesitate. That part of his life is over, and he's never going back.

They never perform the song for Rachel.

* * *

Santana and Brittany are the next to quit the club. They were only really there on Sue Sylvester's order, and now that Rachel has left the group, Sue decides it's a waste of time.

Brittany is slightly sad about leaving because she's grown quite close to a few of the members, but Santana helps her form a dancing group.

Brittany dropped out of the cheerleading squad as well, and although Santana stays, it doesn't feel quite the same. She likes the familiarity of the uniform, and she'll never be able to give it up.

After a little persuasion, Santana even let Brittany open the dance group to the whole school. Anyone who wanted to join was allowed, as long as they had basic skills.

When Rachel heard what they were doing, she dressed in her favourite dancing outfit and went to the tryouts. She signed up under some stupid alias, and when it was her turn to perform, she even stepped forward.

Then Noah's face swam before her eyes and she realized that she couldn't go through with it. She walked out of the auditorium as fast as she could and didn't look back.

Brittany was the only one that saw her.

* * *

Mr Schue asked Miss. Pillsbury to marry him. He told the Glee kids first, well the original ones anyway. He hadn't really connected with the replacements.

It was slightly strange to have them all in the same room together. Santana and Brittany came right before dance practice, and Puck and Rachel strolled in after them. No one comments on the fact that Rachel is wearing jeans instead of a skirt. They realize that she's trying to hide her knee from the rest of them.

Finn, Quinn, Mercedes, Kurt, Artie, Matt, Mike and Tina all hang out in one corner, while Santana, Brittany, Puck and Rachel hang out on the opposite end of the stage.

It hurts Mr Schue to see the kids that had been so close grow so far apart, but he doesn't mention it. He announced his news, and after the congratulations and hugs, he took his leave. He didn't notice the groups merge together and start talking.

Santana and Brittany were telling Quinn about the new routine they were planning. After a minute, Quinn walked the group over to Rachel, and asked her for her opinion.

Finn, Puck, Matt and Mike started planning a video game night. Mike invited Artie and Finn invited Kurt and they decided to organize it for that Friday.

Mercedes and Tina quickly joined the dancing conversation.

It was the last time the original Glee kids talked in a long time.

* * *

Finn and Quinn got back together.

They decided to start afresh, and dropped off the social radar altogether.

Quinn dropped out of cheerleading, even though it had taken her so long to get back on the squad after giving her daughter up for adoption.

Finn quit football. The team wasn't that great anyway, and there was no way it was going to help him in life.

They both quit Glee.

Mr Schue took the news reasonably well. He wished them both luck, and left quickly after.

That night, he cried in Emma's arms.

The club that he had helped build back up again was falling apart. The club that he had taken over with just one of the original members: Rachel Berry.

When she had walked out of the door, she had taken everything with her.

* * *

Mr Schue tried to get Rachel to join the club again. He talked to Noah first, practically begging him to persuade his girlfriend to rejoin.

Even though Noah listened respectfully, the answer was still a firm no.

"Glee was part of her life Mr Schue, a part that she loved a lot. It was the first step on her way to being a star. It allowed her to sing to an audience, and to dance, but that part of her life is over. She can't have a little of it without wanting a lot. She rejoins Glee club, and she'll want a lot. She'll try to dance, and belong, and she'll screw up her leg"

"She doesn't have to dance. She can just sing", the teacher said calmly, trying to present ulterior motives although he knew he was running out of ideas.

Noah's eyes widened in disbelief and he shook his head in disgust. "I get that you want your club to do well, but to inflict that much pain on Rachel isn't right. Did you not see how much it hurt her to sit there and sing, and watch us all dance around? She wanted to be up there with us, to have her place in the spotlight, but she couldn't. I'm not going to let her join the group again just so she can cry herself to sleep every night"

"You've grown up Puck", Mr Schue says softly.

"I did it for her", he replies, before walking away.

* * *

Matt and Mike were the next to leave. They followed Brittany and Santana, hoping to help with the routines for the dance club.

"Look Mr Schue", Mike had said softly, "we joined Glee so we could dance. Sure, the singing was fun, but we were only ever back-ups and honestly...we were only ever here for the dancing, and because Brittany pressured me to join. We can get our dancing fix and spend time with Brittany at the dancing club"

Mr Schue wishes them luck as well.

This time, his heart isn't hurting as much. He gets why they're leaving. Nothing motivated them more than an angry Rachel Berry.

* * *

It's not long before Mercedes and Kurt leave Glee as well.

Sue has offered them full time spots on the Cheerio's, and Mr Schue is fairly sure it's her last attempt to destroy the Glee club forever. She doesn't even have to try: the new members just aren't the same.

They don't have the same drive, the same determination... the only reason they're here is because the Glee club is basically the only musical program at McKinley High.

Kurt's the one to break the news, and for a second, Mr Schue is reminded of Rachel.

"While we appreciate the experiences Glee has given us, we have decided that it is time for us to spread our wings. Coach Sylvester has offered us both positions on the Cheerio's, and as this involves dancing and solos we do not have to fight for, we have decided to accept her generous offer"

"You sound just like Rachel", Mr Schue laughs, which actually brings a smile to Kurt's face.

"Yes, well us diva's do have some things in common", Kurt chuckles.

The unasked question is hanging in the air: "why didn't you take control of the club when Rachel left?"

As Mercedes walks out of the door with a polite goodbye, Kurt hangs back.

"We both know that being a diva isn't what made Rachel the leader. She cared about the club; she took slushies in the face every day, she was the one that volunteered to have her photo defaced in the year book, she was the one who got us our first commercial. The reason Glee can't function without Rachel is quite simply because Rachel Berry is Glee"

With those words, he's gone.

* * *

Artie and Tina are the only ones who stay behind. Artie can't dance, and Tina would follow him anywhere, so they become the only original members left.

Tina isn't always confident enough for her own solos, but she agrees to perform a duet with Artie at Regional's.

No one notices, but Finn and Quinn are sitting in the back row, watching as the dancers whirl gracefully around the stage, and Artie and Tina receive a loud round of applause. Glee has become more dance orientated in an effort to become more appealing to the high school students because not many of them can sing that well.

Brittany and Santana watch as their routine is pulled off flawlessly. Matt and Mike are next to them, Mike holding Brittany's hand on one side, Matt holding Santana's hand on the other. Brittany and Santana are clasping each other's hand in the middle, joy etched on their faces.

Mercedes and Kurt are standing by one of the exit doors, on a mission from Sue Sylvester to see how good they are. Sue is trying to decide whether or not she needs to stage another sabotage mission. (When they go back to school that day they'll tell Sue that although the applause was loud, there were no standing ovations like when Rachel sung).

Noah is standing by the other day, holding tightly to Rachel's hand. She spent days convincing him to take her along to watch, and he finally agreed earlier that morning.

"Do you miss it?" he whispered to her softly.

"I try not to dwell on it, but I do miss it. It became a part of me", she whispered back. "Did they always clap this loudly when we performed?"

"They clapped louder when you sung", he informed her honestly.

Across the room, the other original Glee club members were thinking the same thing. Just like Puck had said all that time ago: "That Berry girl makes me want to set myself on fire, but man, she can sing"

* * *

Finn, Quinn, Mercedes, Kurt, Santana, Brittany, Mike, Matt, Puck and Rachel arrived back to school at around the same time that day.

As soon as she and Noah walked into the corridor, she was hit in the face with a cherry slushy.

"Just leave it Noah", she whispered as she felt her boyfriend tense up. "Can you please take me to the bathroom?"

Noah agreed, gently picking her up and walking her to the nearest disabled bathroom.

The idiot that threw the slushy didn't get away unscathed though. He had to deal with a very angry Finn, Mike and Matt, who picked him up and threw him in a dumpster.

Mercedes was held back by Santana and Brittany, because she was this close to pummelling that stupid idiot. Quinn stormed back into the school and marched straight up to Principal Figgins, Kurt trailing behind her.

"We're here to report a disgraceful crime", Quinn said, and launched into the whole story, with Kurt interjecting bits every now and then.

The idiot got a week's suspension.

* * *

That's the way things went from then on. Although they weren't a club anymore, they still stuck up for each other.

When Mercedes was teased for being overweight, Rachel broke her vow of silence regarding other members of the club. She went straight up to the guy who said it and slapped him in the face, as Santana, who appeared out of nowhere, kneed him right where it hurt. The girls nodded at each other before walking in opposite directions.

When more pornographic pictures of Rachel emerged on the bathroom walls, Quinn told Puck straight away. They organised a group (consisting of himself, Finn, Quinn, Brittany and Kurt) and scrubbed all of the pictures away before Rachel could see them.

When Artie was locked in the portable toilet and Rachel tried to help, she was thrown in there too. She was too small to really make a difference, and her anger towards them just annoyed the perpetrators. When Noah found out what happened, he found who did it and made sure they knew not to mess with Rachel again.

When Finn and Brittany failed a big Spanish test, someone stole a copy of their test and posted it everywhere. They were the laughing stock for weeks. Rachel made a revision booklet with easy instructions and put it in their lockers. Quinn and Santana found who posted the tests and made a nasty rumour. Brittany and Finn never failed another Spanish test again.

When Kurt was thrown in the dumpster because he was gay, the whole team banded together. They didn't talk about it, but communicated through notes in lockers and in text books. Kurt was never bullied again once the person who started it was expelled.

Word eventually got around: don't mess with Rachel Berry, Noah Puckerman, Quinn Fabray, Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, Santana Lopez, Mercedes Jones, Artie Abrams, Tina Cohen-Chang and Brittany.

* * *

When it's their final year of school, Mr Schue approaches them one by one.

He waits until Sue has finished the Cheerio training session and then walks up to Mercedes and Kurt. When he tells them his idea, Mercedes and Kurt are easily convinced.

Finn agrees just as quickly, and although it takes Quinn a few more minutes to warm up to the plan, she agrees too.

Mr Schue doesn't need to ask Tina and Artie. He's already mentioned it to them in Glee club rehearsals and they actually helped him arrange some of the details.

Brittany actually approaches him. Apparently, she was talking to Quinn when she ran into her at the shopping centre and Quinn mentioned something about it. Brittany volunteers her services, as well as Santana's, Mike's and Matt's.

He even asks Puck, and although Puck is the hardest one to convince, he eventually gets him on board.

The only one he doesn't ask is Rachel.

* * *

She finds out though. Noah isn't able to keep a secret for long and when she finds out that Mr Schue is reuniting the original Glee club for a performance piece at graduation, she's devastated.

It's not enough that she doesn't get a chance at being a star now, but the club she'd do anything for has decided they'd rather perform without her. Plus, they've got her _boyfriend _lying to her, and she doesn't know who she can trust anymore.

Rachel doesn't know that it's all part of the plan though. A carefully executed plan to get Rachel Berry to perform with them one last time, because although they have all moved on with their lives, they all miss her and her craziness and her amazing voice.

They just want to be New Directions one more time.

* * *

Their plan works, but not the way they want it to.

They want to start performing at the end of graduation, and they want Rachel to be so incensed at not being involved that she'll climb the stairs and sing with them.

They may have taken advantage of her, and been horrible to her when she was around, but when it came down to it, they loved Rachel Berry.

As Kurt had said to Mr Schue when he quit the club: The reason Glee can't function without Rachel is quite simply because Rachel Berry is Glee.

Graduation starts and Rachel is one of the first names called.

They all crane their necks to see her walk up onto the stage, but their hearts break at the sight. Her knee locks up and she falls to the floor. The whole school starts laughing at her, with the exception of the Glee kids; the one's she influenced with her voice, determination and drive.

They walk up onto the stage behind Noah, glaring at the school, and watch as he picks her up like he's done so many times before, and whispers that he loves her.

She beams back, and admits that she loves him too.

They become New Directions once more when their leader falls and can't pick herself back up.

* * *

The third last time they perform is their graduation party. Mr Schue and his fiancée Emma organise it, and invite just the Glee kids.

It's slightly awkward at first. They haven't talked in a long time, and they don't really know what to talk about.

Finn and Quinn are hanging around together until she spots Brittany and Santana and goes to stand with them.

Matt and Mike are in a conversation and Finn comes to join them, because they've talked a couple of times in the last year.

Mercedes and Kurt are still really good friends, and they're standing together talking, right next to Artie, who has Tina perched on his knee.

Then Rachel and Noah walk in, and the group effortlessly folds in, becoming one big huddle, with about five different conversations going on at the same time.

They all used to hate Rachel and her attitude. She was hard to get along with, she was a self-proclaimed diva, she was slightly selfish... basically, she was impossible to like.

But then, her injury happened, and they realized that underneath that attitude, she was a scared high school student who had dreams, just like the rest of them.

And then she quit Glee, and they realized that the person they hated the most was the only reason they were still in Glee. And they realized that they hadn't hated her all along; they had actually kind of liked her.

So when Rachel starts humming under her breath, Finn starts tapping on the table they've migrated to.

Quinn, Mercedes, Tina, Brittany and Santana join in as well, gently singing the opening lyrics to the song they all remember.

Noah, Mike, Matt and Artie join the girls, and as easy as that, they've given Rachel something she's lost: her confidence in herself.

Finn starts them off. "Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world; she took the midnight train going anywhere".

Rachel's voice, something they've missed and craved for so long, blends in perfectly, just like it did all that time ago. "Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit; he took the midnight train going anywhere".

And so the first song that New Directions ever sung became one of their last.

* * *

They still see each other over the years.

Rachel and Noah move as far away from New York as possible, whereas Artie and Tina stay in Ohio. Finn and Quinn decide to travel for a while; first stop: Australia. Brittany and Santana decide to go to New York, and as always, Mike and Matt follow them. They're going to try and open a dancing school there. Kurt goes to Hollywood and becomes a fashion correspondent for some fancy television network. Mercedes goes with him, but enrols in a course at a college nearby. She's not sure what she wants to do yet, but she knows she'll need a degree for it.

When Tina and Artie announce their engagement, Mercedes and Kurt are the only ones that can make it home for the engagement party. Finn and Quinn can't make it at all, but they send a card, as do Mike, Matt, Brittany and Santana. The dancing school is taking off, and they can't leave yet. Rachel and Noah can't make it down either, due to previous commitments.

The whole group comes down for the wedding though.

* * *

Finn and Quinn are the first to get pregnant. Santana and Brittany decide that maybe they've been more than friends all along, and they give their relationship a try. Mike waits around in case it fails (he's always had a thing for Brittany), but eventually both him and Matt move on and start dating other people.

Surprisingly, it's Rachel and Noah who break up first.

When the rest of the former Glee members hear the news, there isn't a dry eye amongst them. Even Santana sheds a tear.

Rachel fell down a flight of stairs. Her knee had been getting worse and worse and she hadn't told Noah. She had been reaching to straighten a picture frame at the law firm she was working part time for, and had fallen.

It was a bad fall.

Surgery was needed on her knee, and she hit her head pretty bad.

She couldn't remember anything from the last two years.

She ended her relationship with Noah thinking it was all a joke, and lost her dreams of Broadway again.

Noah's heart broke and he moved back home to Ohio. He had tried to hang around for Rachel, but she made him leave. He refused to talk to anyone, and when they even tried, he snapped that his name wasn't Noah. He was Puck again, and he pretended that this hadn't hurt him at all.

* * *

Quinn was the one who stepped in and fulfilled her role as relationship fairy godmother. She collected all the evidence of Rachel and Noah's time together, and flew to see Rachel.

After seven hours of talking, Rachel was finally convinced that there had been something between her and Noah.

She asked him to come back to their house, and give her a chance to love him all over again.

He agreed.

(It helped that she got her memory back about two months after he moved back in, and as soon as she did, she proposed to him. They were the next pair to get married, and they were declared godparents to Quinn and Finn's beautiful little girl: Jasmine Rachel Hudson).

* * *

After that, not much happened for a few years.

Quinn, Finn and Jasmine settled down in Ohio, right down the road from Artie and Tina Abrams. Brittany and Santana had a commitment ceremony that every one attended, and there wasn't a dry eye in the room as Mike walked Brittany down the aisle.

Mike and Matt soon moved to Los Angeles, and Kurt moved to New York. Mike and Matt opened another dancing school, and Kurt was offered a better job. Mercedes started dating Matt, and Mike fell in love with the woman who served him coffee at the diner.

Noah was in the final stage of his training to become a physiotherapist. Rachel had never been prouder of someone other than herself. On rainy days, Noah would spend most of his day with her, because her knee kept playing up. It had been so much worse after the fall, but she was a trooper, and hardly ever complained anymore.

Rachel opened her own law firm. It was a one-storey building, and she hadn't lost a case yet. She was well on her way to making a name for herself.

* * *

The next time the group is together isn't a happy occasion. Mr Schue died after a long battle with cancer, and they all fly back for his funeral.

It's a beautiful service, and the original Glee members perform a song out of respect for him.

Almost all of his possessions are left to Emma, who he loved more than anything else in the world. He leaves something to every Glee member though.

To Artie and Tina, he leaves a picture of them onstage singing their duet. He signed the back, thanking them for staying when everyone else left.

He leaves Brittany a little toy duck, which makes her day. "The duck was never in the hat", he wrote, "but life would have been so much happier if it were. Keep smiling Brittany".

He leaves Santana the first ever outfit she wore in Glee. "I know you long to fit in Santana", the attached note reads, "and I hope you realize that we saw past the uniform: we saw you".

He leaves Quinn a uniform as well. "The Cheerio's may have hurt you, and taken away your uniform and your pride, but you still had us. We loved you through it all".

He leaves Finn an apology for roping him into Glee in the first place, and apologizes for the lies he told to pressure him to join. He also leaves a photo of the two taken right after the group won their first competition. "You were always a winner Finn"

Kurt is given Mr Schue's favourite scarf, and although he wrinkles his nose in disgust, saying it's a fashion disaster, he still slips it around his neck. "Good luck with everything, diva", the note that slips out of it reads.

Mercedes is given a CD with all the solos she ever sung on it. "Contrary to what you believe, I didn't just pull you up to hit the end notes. I played this CD every time I was down, and your voice raised me up".

"Noah, I don't know what to give you. You honestly seemed to hate Glee most of the time you were there, and you didn't seem to have an interest in much. But you grew up, and I'm proud of you. You became a man that did the right thing, and I noticed. There should be more people like you out there". Noah tries to pretend that he's annoyed that he doesn't get anything cool, but Rachel sees him wipe away a tear when he thinks no one is looking.

"And to Rachel Berry-Puckerman, I leave Glee. We may not have seen eye to eye, and she may have felt like her contributions weren't wanted, but without her, there is no Glee. Rachel, I know your dream ended twice, and I know you've been trying to put it all behind you and move on to a different life, but there is nothing better than your voice for inspiring people. Your name in lights would have been a sight to behold, and I would have been in the front row on every opening night"

* * *

And so, the story of Rachel Berry-Puckerman ends where it began, at McKinley High, Ohio.

It started with a girl who had a dream. It started with a girl who wanted to see her name in lights, who wanted to perform on Broadway. It started with a girl who took a slushy in the face every day, who was hated by her peers, but had a voice that brought them all together.

It continued with a girl who lost her dream when she lost the ability to dance. It continued with the girl leaving the only group that had ever been home, and falling in love with the most amazing man in the world. It continued with everyone realizing that the girl was what brought them all together.

And it ended with a woman selling her law firm and moving back to Ohio. It ended with the woman running the high school Glee club, raising their two daughters and watching her husband build his own physiotherapy centre.

* * *

Well, technically this story ends on Rachel Berry-Puckerman's fifth wedding anniversary when Noah took her to New York.

He took her to the theatre she had always wanted to perform in, and pushed her up on stage.

She began to sing Don't Stop Believing, like she had done all those years ago, smiling when her husband joined in. She froze when a group of voices blended in flawlessly.

Spinning around she saw Quinn, Finn, Mike, Matt, Brittany, Santana, Artie, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt singing the back-up vocals, letting her and Noah sing the lead.

The song finishes, and a crackling sound erupts from behind her. Rachel spins around, shocked, when her name literally goes up in lights.

"I know it's not the same as you actually performing on Broadway, but you wanted to see your name in lights, so here it is", Noah says softly, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"You planned this?"

"Yeah... I thought you should be allowed a chance to fulfil your dreams".

And with that, the curtain comes down on New Directions, just as Rachel throws herself at Noah. It won't be the last time the group sees each other, but it'll be the last time they perform. It's a dream that has now been fulfilled, and they'll all revert back to their normal lives.

It all began and ended with Rachel Berry and Glee, although we all know that they are one and the same.

There is no Glee without Rachel Berry.

**A/N: Well, what do you guys think ? Not exactly sure if I like it... the original idea I had was just going to be 1000-2000 words, really short really but here we are at the end of another 5 949 words (16 pages on Microsoft Word). **

**The original idea was just the middle part about the kids defending each other no matter what, but then it kind of branched out because of my love of Rachel. I wanted people to read about what would happen it she left Glee, and I hope I did that... **

**Comments are love :)**


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